The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has taken up with the Centre the issue of a 10-km stretch of the Chandigarh-Baddi road, lying incomplete for the past 25 years.
The incomplete stretch is causing great inconvenience to hundreds of small-scale units in Baddi. Industrialists having units in the township have been demanding repair of the national highway from Pinjore to Baddi and completion of the remaining stretch of road for years now. More than 100 industrialists from Himachal Pradesh had taken part in a protest march from Panchkula to Chandigarh recently to protest against the Punjab and Haryana government’s alleged indifference in repairing the highway.
Industrialists say if the stretch is completed, the distance between Baddi and Chandigarh would be reduced by 20 km. The highway passes through the three states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
Dr Swati A. Piramal, president-designate of Assocham, wrote a letter to minister for road transport and highways Kamal Nath on June 16, saying that following the decision to promote Baddi as an industrial township, several pharmaceutical companies shifted base to the town and created state-of-the-art infrastructure and manufacturing facilities. The township today boasts of not only a good rate of employment, but has also has become a hub of manufacturing activities for a vast range of pharmaceuticals, electronics and a host of other engineering goods and products.
“The highway between Chandigarh and Baddi, however, is in a pitiable condition and continues to be neglected by all the three states,” Dr Piramal wrote to the minister.
The letter, seeking the ministry’s intervention, says the incomplete highway is causing enormous amount of delay, congestion, and, in some cases, damage to perishable goods such as medicines, injectables etc. During the monsoon, the road is a nightmare to negotiate and traffic blocks continue for hours together.
Rajender Guleria, president of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA), when contacted, said the association had met a number of officials, but to no avail. “The NH-21A has been deteriorating over the past years and is full of potholes that lead to perennial traffic jams. Our business is being severely affected,” he said.